He glances over. “Whoa, you weren’t kidding. That’s amazing.”
I smile, pleased he agrees.nbsp;
“How on earth did you ever discover that place?”
“I had to do a research paper on a country and I chose Japan. Where would you go?”
“Mine seems so boring and dull in comparison,” he admits with a mock wince.
“Oh, come on.” I bump his shoulder playfully with mine. “Now you have to tell me.”
He chuckles. “I want to go to Vancouver, Canada to snowboard.”
“Oh, you snowboard too?” I inquire.
“No, but I want to.”
“You’re quite the sports guy, huh?”
He flashes a grin at me, his dimple winking from his cheek. “Yeah, I guess. I played baseball in high school and I was on the swim team.”
He changes lanes and takes the next exit.
Nothing looks familiar and grasslands stretch on either side of us, with an intermittent cow or two.
“You know, I’m still not convinced you’re not planning to kill me.”
He laughs. “Think what you want, but I’m not planni
ng to kill you.”
We drive for another twenty minutes, the scenery changing to more mountainous, before he turns on to a dirt road and drives some more.
Eventually, he stops and parks the Jeep. Light is beginning to creep into the sky.
“Where are we?” nbsp;I ask.nbsp;
From what I can tell, we’re in the middle of nowhere. There’s no trail, no more road, no other cars, and just trees.
He hops out and the door closes with a creaking noise. “This isn’t it. We have to go on foot from here.”
I look down at my feet, thankful I wore my sneakers; they might not be cute but at least they’re comfy.
I hop out and fumble with my bag.
“Leave it,” he tells me.
“Um …”
“Trust me, no one comes out here, it’ll be safe.”
I decide to listen but tuck it under the seat just in case.
“It’s not a long walk, I promise.”
We fall into step beside each other. His arm bumps into my shoulder as we walk, reminding me how much taller he is than me.
I have no idea what he could possibly want to show me way out here, but I’m curious.